Grid-type grille



L. B. GREEN GRID TYPE GRILLE July 9,' 1935.

Filed June 21, 1934 2 Sheets-$118M l fave 1 [lee 61 zmmw Jufly W35. L.B. GREEN GRID TYPE GRILLE Filed June 21, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedJul 9, 1935 2, 0?,716 a GRID-TYPE GRILLE i Lee Green, Lakewood, Ohio,assignor' to The Globe Machinet Stamping Company, Cleveland, Ohio, acorporation of Ohio V c Application June 21,

. invention relates to metal =grillesof' the general type. in *which.relativelytransverse sets of blades and cross-bars are first slidablyinterengaged with each other to prevent a shifting of ah the blades withrespect to the cross-bars in the general plane of the grille, and inwhich-the blades are Lthereafter fastened to' the "cross-bars so astopreventthe blades fromsliding out of their .slidable engagement withthecross-bars.

V In my copending application #723,948, filed Maya. l93 ion a Grid typemetal grille, I dis- 1 closeda grid-jtype grille of this general class,in which each blade-presents loop portions behind the common rearsurface of the cross-bars, and in whch eachblade isanchored'to thecross-bars by .an anchoringrod extending through the said'loop'portio'ns of the blade. 1

7 While the grid-type grille of my said applicationlends itselfadmirably to the manufacturing 2O of automobile" radiator grillespresenting orna- .mentalappearances' of varying designs; I have foundrn'y there disclosed constructionto have the following limitations theovercoming of which is among the :main objects of my presentinvenftionfl(1)" The cost of l the anchoring rod associated with eachblade of lthe": grille, together with the laborrequiredforinserting this rod add'undesir ably to themanufaoturing cost of the grille.

(ZVWhenablade iS to be anchored to the cross-bars by. ananchcring'member which exterfds behind the cross-bars, the l bladeusually must be'coiisid'e'rably wider than the cross-bar, therebyrequiring more'metal'for the blade than might otherwise be, needed.

(3) When each blade is of a uniform width throughout its length, asiscommercially desir able; and the cross bars areto present theirforward e'dges a't a uniform-distance rearward of the forward ed'ges ofthe blades (as is desirable,

for' thesake oflappeara'nc'e), the blades must be of a uniform widththroughout their length unless the cross-bars adjacent towider bladeportions are indent-ed at theirrear to such an extent as to weakenthem.Consequently-the grille construction of my an 'a dequate concealing oftheap'ron underhang- 50 mg thelo'w'er portion of anautomobile radiatorgrille is so .far 'belowthe eyes. of an observer that mud collected. on'the's'aid apron can readily be seen Z through "the grille unless thecross-bars in I "Fig; 3 isa fragmentary horizontal section tak'en grilleinzwhi'ch ithe lower portions ofl the blades slope forward downwardly,since this .part'of the the lower 'partoi ithegrille have a considerably1934, Serial were:

. fiClaims. relics-s2) i greater width" than; hat requiredf'in' thehigher partshf the grille.

' (4) The rearwardlylooped blade con'structio'n needed for the grillesdisclosediinimy said copending applicationpreferably requires..the"-.use3 of resilient metal for 'theblade'in order that the resiliency of "themetal will insure the firmness of the anchoring of thesesblades'to thecross-arms; 'andin' practice such alooped bladedesirablyhas to" be.formed from axtstrip pf,tm etalibent about its medial line, which stripof metal must initially be of morethan double the width of thefihishedblade. Consequently, my 'saidprior construction doesnot readilylen'ditself to itheiise'of blades consi'stingof generall'y'fiat stripssuch as could be manufactured much more cheaply.

Illustrative of the manner in which "my-ahere presented inventionovercomes the above'r'eeited grille; A

Fig; lis a perspective :viewiof aportion of a grille embodying" myinvention, including crossbars of varying widths and single-tl'iicknessblades anchored to the cross-arms by the ornamenting tubes which ar'eslid over the forward portions of limitations of my previously disclosedtype the blades; j l

Fig.2 is an enlarged perspective view of por- :tions o'f twoof thecross-bars of Fig. land of a part ofIa blade slidably interlocked withthese cross-bars, as they appearbefore the slitted ornamenting-tube (ofwhich afragment is also shown in Fig.2) isslid over the forward portionsof the blade to anchor it to the cross-bars.

along'the line 3-3 of Fig; 1.

Figf l is a section allied to Fig. 3, showing the use of a a similarlyconstructed blade and 'anchoring tube 'in' conhection'with a cross-barhaving a frontal recess' which affords 'a'wider bearing for the said.tube.

Fig. his a section allied-to- Fig-J l; showing a different crosssecti'onof the anchoring tube and bithe'frontal recess in the cross-bar.

Fig; 6 is :a section alliedtoFig." 3, showing the use of a'blade formed.of a metal stripdoublecl along its longitudinal center line. priorapplication does'notreadily lend itself to Fig. 1 section, also alliedto Fig. .3, showing the'rearward half ofthe blade as corrugated, so j'as' tofins'ure itsbearlng against both sidewalls Fig. 8 is'afragmentaryperspective View of a grille in which c'ertain'blades are clamped to thecross-bars byorna'mentingtubes after the man ner ofFigs; l and 3, and inwhich intervening I operate with the recited and relatively narrowerblades are clamped to the cross-bars by lugs each of which is formedfrom a rear-edge portion of a cross-bar and engages the reared ge of oneof the narrowerblades.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged and fragmentary horizontal section, taken alongthe upper face of the upper cross-bar of Fig. 8, showingthe anchoringlug which clamps one of the narrower blades to this upper cross-bar.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary perspective view in which every other blade isgenerally U-sectioned and anchored to forwardly recessed portions of thecross-bars by an ornamenting tube, and in which each alternate blade isanchored after the manner shown in Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged side elevation of the grille part shown in Fig.10, taken from the right-hand side of Fig. 10. 7

Fig. 12 is an enlarged horizontal section taken along the line IZ IZ ofFig. 10.

Figs. 13 and 14 are enlarged perspective views of portions of the twotypes of blades shown in Figs. 10 to 12.

In the parallel bladed embodiment of Figs. 1 to 3, each horizontalcross-bar C has parallel and spaced slots S extending forwardly into it,desirably across somewhat more than half of the width of the cross-bar,each of which slots preferably is of a width closely corresponding tothe thickness of the strip of metalfrom which a blade. of a grille isformed. 1

Each of the upright blades B has horizontal slots 8 extending rearwardlyinto it and corresponding closely in thickness to'the thickness of thecross-bars C, the depths of these slots .9 being such that when theblades are slidably assembled with the cross-bars (after the manner ofthe'partitioning strips in an egg carton or a candy box) the bladeswillproject forwardly beyond the common frontal surface of the forward edgesC of the cross-bars. The forwardly projecting blade portions betweenconsecutive cross-bars are bent (alternately in opposite directions) soasto constitute forwardly diverging fingers B and after the blades andcross-barsi have thus been assembled into a grid, with the. bottoms ofthe slots S in the cross bars bearing'against the bottoms of the slots sin blades, I slide over the said diverging black fingers B a rearwardlylongitudinally slitted tube T of such a size as to bear rearwardlyagainst the adjacent forward edges C of the cross-bars. and forwardlyagainst portions of the said blade fingers. a

Each tube T preferably is formed of resilient metal, thereby permittingit to expand sufficiently tocompensate forthe slightirregularities whichocour in the commercial manufacture of-the slotted blades andcross-bars,thereby drawing the cor responding blade, forward .to' pressthe bottoms of the slots in the blade against'the bottoms of the.slots'in the cross-bars, sothat the tubes coproportioning of the saidslot widths to hold the blades rigidly assembled to 'thejcros's-barsWithout requiring auxiliary fasteningmeans.

Each such tube'T may be of a bright metal cone.

trasting with both the blades and the cross-bars. as for example. ofchromeplated steel or stainless steel-so as toenhance the ornamentalappearance'of thegrillep 3' In assembling such'a grille, the initialslidable interfitting of the blades with the'cross-arm is a simple andspeedy operation, and each ornamenting tube can quickly-be slidforciblyover the frontalflngers on a blade even when this .blade has its forwardedge curved as shown in Fig. 1. Moreover, the firmness of the resultingassembly is not affected by considerable variations in the Width of thecross-bars, so that in the forwardly curving lower part of a grille thelower cross-bars C may (for example) be wider than the upper cross-barsC, as shown in Fig. 1.

With each tube T adequately resilient, a mere engagement of the slitedges in the tube with the forward edges C of the cross-bars, as shownin Fig. 3, has been found suihcient to insure the rigidity of thegrille, particularly when the slots in the cross-bars correspond closelyin widthto the thickness of the rearward portions of the blade. 7

However, in the commercial manufacture of such grilles, I desirablyprovide each cross-bar at its forward edge with recesses R aliningaxially with the medial planes P (Fig. 4) of the slots in the cross-bar,so that each tube will have portions of considerable width (atrespectively opposite sides of its slit) bearing against parts of such arecess, thereby insuring the desired rigidity even if the blade fits theadjacent slit in the cross-bar rather loosely. 1

. Moreover, the (horizontal) cross-sectional shape of each recess R maybe varied so long as the cross-section of the tube adapts the tube tobear adequately against the wall of the recess, as shown for example bythe semi-hexagonal section of the recess R in Fig. 5 and the shaping ofthe tube T which presents two portions bearing flatwise against portionsof the wall of this recess. 7

However, instead of using longitudinally spaced portions of each bladeto afford the diverging fingers, the blade may have its frontal portiondoubled back on itself and then bent at right angles to the majorportion of the blade,.so as to present a T-head 3 as shown in Fig. 7straddled by the anchoring tube. And if the metal of the blade is sothin as to make it diflicult to form slots of a closely correspondingwidth in the crossbars, the rearward part of the blade may belongitudinally corrugated, as shown at 4 in Fig. 7 so as to bear againstboth side walls of the slots.

So also, the same principle of looking a blade to the cross-bars by aslitted tube which straddled a widened blade portion spaced forwardlyfrom the cross-bars may be employed (as in Fig. 6) with a blade 5 formedof a quite thin strip of metal folded along its medial longitudinal lineand. having the free edges of the strip bent away from each other, topresent diverging fingers 6. This figure also shows still anothercross-section of the anchoring tube T Moreover, it is not essential tomy invention to have every blade project forwardly beyond the cross-barsand clamped to the cross-bars by an ornamenting tube, since theheretofore described assembly may be used only in connection withcertain blades of the grille.

For example, Fig. 8 shows a fragment of a grille in which only twoblades B are clamped to the cross-bars C by slitted tubes T after themanner of Figs. 1 and 3. The intervening two blades 6 present theirforward edges flush with the forward edges of the cross-bars, each ofthese blades 6 being clamped to each cross-bar by deforming a rearwardpart of that cross-bar to project into a slot of that cross-bar and toengage the rear edge of this cross-bar as shown on an enlarged scale inFig. 9, thus changing the appearance of the grille considerably fromthat of Fig. 1 and considerably reducing the cost of the grille.

blades;

by a slitted tube T as shown in Fig. 12, so that the anchoring is on thesame principle as shown in Fig. 4. Figs. 10 and 12 also show the use ofintervening narrower and entirely fiat blades 9 (formed as in Fig. 14)anchored by lugs C on the cross-bars, thus contrasting all the more fromthe shape and appearance of the wider blade members, each of whichcomprises a blade 1 and an anchoring tubeT. Thus may invention readilylends itself to the construction of a large variety of grille designs,in addition to eliminating the cost of the anchoring rods required forthe grilles disclosed inmy said copending application #723,948.

However, while I have heretofore described my invention in connectionwith grilles having upright blades and horizontal cross-bars, itwill beobvious that the directions in which these relatively transverse membersextend is immaterial. So also, the spacings between the blades, andbetween the cross-bars canbe greatly varied, as shown for example by acomparison of Fig. 9 with Fig. 1 or Fig. 10.

Moreover, while I have heretofore described my invention in connectionwith embodiments including numerous desirable details of constructionand arrangement, it should be obvious that these could be varied in manyrespects without departing either from the spirit of my invention orfrom the appended claims.

I claim as myinvention;

1. .An upright grille comprising a set of spaced upright blades eachprovided at its forward edge with forwardly diverging fingers and eachhaving slots extending rearwardly into it; a set of spaced horizontalcross-members each'having slots, corresponding in their spacing to thatof the blades extending forwardly into it, the said cross-members beingslidably interfitted with the blade members so that each slot in thecross-member houses a portion of ablade contiguous to the bottom of aslot in that blade; and a set of longitudinally slitted tubularornamenting members extending in front of the cross-members and eachstraddling the diverging fingers on one of the the tubular membershaving portions thereof bearing against the members of one of the saidsets to clamp the bottoms of the slots in r the cross-members againstthe bottoms of the slots in the blades.

2. An upright grille comprising spaced upright blades each provided atits forward edge with forwardly diverging fingers and each having slotsextending rearwardly into it; spaced horizontal cross-bars each havingslots, corresponding in their spacing to that of the blades, extendingforwardly into it, each cross-bar having its forward edge provided withrecesses alining with the slots in it; the cross-bars being slidablyinterfitted with the blades so that each slot inacross-bar houses aportion of a blade which is behind the bottom of a slot in that blade;and a set of longitudinally slitted tubular ornamenting membersextending in front of the crossbars and each hooked over the divergingfingers on one of the blades, each tube bearing rearwardly againstrecessed edge portions of the cross-bars so as to clamp the bottoms ofthe slots in the cross-bars against the bottoms of the slots in theblades.

3. An upright grille comprising upright blades each having spacedhorizontal slots extending rearwardly into it, horizontal cross-barseach having spaced upright slots extending forwardly into it, the saidblades and cross-bars being slidably assembled with the bottoms of theslots in the blades bearing against the bottoms of the slots in thecross-bars, each blade being formed so that the parts thereof whichextend between consecutive slots in that blade afford forwardlydiverging fingers spaced forwardly from the forward edge portions of thecross-bars adjacent to that blade; and rearwardly longitudinally slittedtubes each straddling the said fingers on one of the blades, each suchtube having portions bearing forwardly against the fingers straddled byit and rearwardly against thecross-bars, so as to interlock the bladesrigidly with the cross-bars.

4. A grille as per claim 1, in which the consecutive fingers on eachblade extend alternately in opposite horizontal directions.

5. A grille as per claim 1, in which each of the said fingers reachesfrom one slot in the blade to the next slot, and in which the saidfingers parallel and generally fiat blades each having slots extendingrearwardly into it; spaced horizontal cross-bars each having slotsextending forwardly into it, the said slots corresponding in theirspacing to that of the blades and in width to the over-all effectivethickness of the blade parts behind the slots in the blades; thecrossbars being slidably interfitted with the blades so that each slotin the cross-arm houses a portion of a blade behind the bottom of a slotin that blade member, the depths of the slots in the said blades andcross-bars being such that each blade has its frontal part projectingforwardly beyond the surface in which the forward edgeportions of allcross-bars which are adjacent to the blades are disposed, and each suchfrontal part of a blade being of greater thickness than the width of arear'blade part; anda set of rearwardly longitudinally slitted tubularornamenting members extending in front of the cross-bars and each havingrearward portions thereof bearing forwardly'against the said frontalparts of a blade and rearwardly against clamp the bottoms of the slotsin the cross-bars against the bottoms 'of the slots in the blades.

' '7. A grille as per claim 1, in which each blade is formed of a stripof metal bent to a generally U shaped cross-section and presenting theU- back at the rear of the blade, and in which the said divergingfingers are respectively formed from forward portions of the twoU-shanks of the blade.

LEE B. GREEN.

the cross-bars, so as to,

